Document Ref:
AAMC/12/06/2026/010
To:
—All press oulets.
— Press freedom Organizations (CPJ, RSF, IPI)
— Human Rights Watchdogs.
–The International Community.
The Addis Ababa Media Council strongly condemns the arbitrary and dictatorial expulsion of French journalist Augustine Passilly by the Prosperity Party regime. This aggressive measure of deporting international correspondents is a desperate attempt by the regime to hide severe human rights violations, armed conflict, and deep economic crises from the eyes of the international community .
Ethiopia has one of the world’s worst records for press freedom, ranking 148 out of 180 by the tally of Reporters Without Borders.
Press freedom improved briefly when the current Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, rose to power in 2018, but soon gave way to renewed crackdown.
Augustine Passilly, 30, had been a correspondent for La Croix,a Catholic daily, in the country since 2023, and no clear reason was given by authorities for her expulsion this week. Passilly is a highly respected French journalist who has covered East Africa, particularly Ethiopia, extensively. Her investigative pieces and on-the-ground reporting have been featured in major international publications, including:
Le Monde, France’s leading and highly influential daily newspaper, La Croix, a prominent French daily national newspaper, and Jeune Afrique, a leading pan-African media outlet focusing on African politics and economics.
Passilly became a target of the state security apparatus simply for executing her professional duties—unveiling the harsh realities on the ground and amplifying the suffering of the Ethiopian people. In particular, her recent reports on the war in the Amhara region, which exposed military drone strikes on civilian targets, extrajudicial killings and mass arbitrary arrests carried out by government forces has ired the regime.
She has also chronicled forced evictions and demolitions in Addis Ababa which has resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands of residents under the guise of the “Corridor Development” project. Her reports have highlighted the lack of compensation, destruction of heritage and homelessness.
No less she has consistently drawn global attention to the harassment, arbitrary detention, and forced exile of local Ethiopian journalists and human rights defenders.
All these are are “sabotage against national security” to the regime, which has retaliated by revoking her press credentials and forcibly deporting her from the country.
This action sends a chilling warning to both domestic and international journalists. At a historic crossroads where the ruling regime is directly fracturing national unity, it has chosen to completely bury press freedom to conceal its misdeeds. We believe this expulsion represents a critical threshold in the complete elimination of independent journalism in Ethiopia.
We urge the international community to Issue an immediate condemnation against the expulsion and apply coordinated diplomatic pressure on the Ethiopian government.
Addis Ababa Media Council.
June 12, 2026.